Blogs from Pingyao, Shanxi, China, Asia

After another great night's sleep and another great breakfast of egg on toast and homemade dumplings, I was ready to see the places I had missed the day before. I hoped that I had time to visit them all. It felt quite a bit colder than it had done the day before. The first place I decided to head to was the Newspaper Museum, which was just across the street from where I was staying. I think I was the first person to enter the museum that day as it was so quiet. I had a look around the different exhibits about newspapers in the different rooms of the building. Since everything was in Chinese, I had to rely on the pictures to know what they were about. The building that the museum was in, was ... read more

The high speed train from Beijing West Station deposited me Pingyao Gucheng Station in the afternoon. The train ride had been fairly comfortable. Upon exiting the station, I walked out to, pretty much, nothing. I was quite surprised as Pingyao is a popular tourist destination and I thought there would be more life. I found the bus stop, right in front of the station, and waited for the 108 bus. There weren't many people waiting for the bus and the taxi touts kept approaching me and offering rides to the Old Town for 30 RMB, which is pretty cheap, but the bus is only 1 RMB. I had to wait about ten minutes in the cold and about another ten minutes on the bus before we headed off to Pingyao proper. The drive wad uneventful and ... read more

Journée tranquille de touristes dans Pingyao : visite des principaux monuments (temples et maisons officielles), les ramparts de la tour Nord à la tour Sud, déambulations dans les rues de la vieille ville ... On n'est pas seuls mais tout ça est bien agréable ?... read more

Vandaag onderweg naar Pingyao, ong 400 km rijden vanaf Datong. Het zonnetje schijnt lekker dus onderweg hebben we mooi zicht op het landschap. Soms zien we ook nog stukken van de chinese muur bovenop de bergtoppen. Onderweg vlakbij Pingyao zijn we nog even het landgoed gaan bekijken waar vroeger een of andere rijke chinees had gewoond. Toen we in Pingyao aankwamen werden we aan de rand van de stad bij de stadsmuur afgezet en door de hoteleigenaar afgehaald. Vanuit hier naar het hotel gelopen. Het hotel was heel oud en we hadden zo'n typisch chinese kamer, heel mooi. Toen besloten we om het stadje in te gaan lopen en toen schrokken wij ons kapot. Overal van die elektrische golfkarretjes die overal doorheen scheurden en alleen maar souvenierwinkels. Het stadje is nog heel authentiek maar door deze ... read more

Monday 26th October 2015 We checked out of our Beijing Hostel and headed to the train station where we were taking the super fast train again, this time heading west to an ancient town called Pingyao. This is a walled town that has stood for hundreds of years and is popular for tourists who want to see traditional Chinese market streets and houses. We arrived 4 hours after leaving Beijing. As the train pulled into the station, the only people to get off where foreigners like ourselves. As we exited the train at about 3pm we felt the cold hit us. It felt much colder than Beijing and this was probably partly down to the fact that there was nothing around us at all. For miles it was like we were in the desert, only not ... read more